Tax Day: Prequel
by Lab7417
Summary: See the events that led up to our story Tax Day.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Before Tax Day

Authors: SarahRabb [Lhoatland ] and Pat Steiner [SSbpMN ]

SUBJECT: The Prequel to Tax Day, how it all began

Rating: M, smut-light

Disclaimer: JAG belongs to CBS et all. No copyright infringement is intended. The following is for entertainment only.

"So go already," Harm shouted at Renee's back, in a voice too loud for public use but he was past the point of caring. She had frustrated him since the moment he had found her boarding their flight. Plus the image of Mac admitting her identity to save her was still haunting him. He pushed his way into the bar, and was surprised to find Mac sitting alone at a small table, liquid refreshment in front of her. "Mac?" he questioned her, unable to keep from wondering if she was drinking, and if so why.

"Harm!" she jumped slightly. Then she noticed his gaze on her glass, "it's tonic and lemon...for the time being." she sighed.

He gave a sigh of relief and helped himself to the chair next to hers. "A beer and a single malt shot on the side" he told the server, taking a moment to appreciate the view as she walked away from him and then turning to Mac. "That 'for the moment' wouldn't have anything to do with this would it?" he asked and touched the end of the finger bearing Mic's ring.

Mac sighed, "perhaps..." she looked at the ring as he was touching her hand and then her eyes met his.

"No need to explain" he said softly, "if I were engaged to him I think I'd be craving something stronger." His gaze held hers. Not since the ferry had they looked each other in the eye that way. "Obviously you haven't made a decision yet."

"No I haven't made a decision yet, but what options do I have when you're waiting an eternity?" Sarah asked downing the last of her tonic and thinking his alcohol was looking very appetizing at the moment.

Harm downed the shot and followed it with a long swig of beer before answering. "I never said eternity" he sighed, "I just said I wasn't able to let go and I know that didn't even make a lot of sense to you-well it made even less to me. I think it's that I feel that what we could have could be so wonderful that I don't want to spoil it by doing anything hasty, so I'm afraid to do anything at all." He took another long drink. "If it helps, I'm not in love with Renee and I've no intentions of spending my life with her. Now how you feel about Brumby only you know that."

"I don't want Brumby dammit," Sarah bit the words out so softly she didn't think he'd heard and then she ordered a vodka and tonic.

"That's a tonic with lime" Harm quickly corrected the server, "you don't honestly think I'm going to sit here and let you drink just because you're moping over your love life do you?" Then he picked up her hand, "for someone whom you don't want, his ring certainly looms large here."

Sarah grunted a moment and pulled the ring free from her finger and then dropped it in her pocket. "Enough of that." she said and downed half her tonic and water in one gulp.

"Agreed, out of sight out of mind" Harm smiled, "that's how it is with Renee too. She's being driven up to Panmounjon so she won't be back until morning. I just hope she makes our flight, though she's a big girl. I'm sure she knows how to book another." He knocked back the shot the server had brought and chased it with a drink of beer. "You could tell me why you accepted that in the first place" he finally prompted, "because if it was to get my attention, I can assure you it worked."

"Oh has it now? I don't see it doing any good...other than your wise cracks," Sarah scoffed back.

"It's my coping mechanism" he returned without batting an eye. "Mac I'm totally...I don't even know what the word is for what I feel right now. Confused, clueless, in denial, befuddled-pick one and slap it on my forehead. I tried real hard for some clarity on the ferry and I didn't achieve it as you well know."

Mac rolled her eyes and took another drink again wishing it would ease her pain. "I'm simply not waiting forever...I can't." She ordered another drink and tossed it back and then slammed the glass down on the table rising to go back to her room in her frustration.

Harm caught her hand, "hold up I'll walk with you. If I have any more I'm probably going to punch someone at some point and I don't need to spend the night in a Korean brig and then be dressed down by the Admiral."

Sarah shook her head and sighed allowing Harm to walk with her to her room. She spent the elevator ride caressing her neck and her shoulders and moaning softly as she tried to combat the heat.

"Not a place I'd pick for a honeymoon" he grinned slightly and then took over for her hands, rubbing her neck and shoulders, urging her to put her head back against him. As the elevator climbed higher his mind went back to the airliner and the terrorist demand that Lt. Col. Mackenzie show her self. With every breath in his body his eyes were signaling her to keep still, terrified that if she did not she would be shot. The thought of Renee being killed was abhorrent, but the thought of Mac's death even more so he knew. Impulsively he leaned down and put a light kiss on the top of her hair. "Just glad you're still with me" he said in way of explanation, "after this morning I mean."

"I was just as worried about you," Sarah answered leaning into him, "I do believe you have been holding out on me Rabb. You have magic hands."

"Paying you back for the time you did this for me when I was hiding out at your place" he smiled rocking her with him, kneading her shoulders further until the elevator's bell signaled their arrival at their floor. They stood awkwardly in the hallway for a moment. "If you're not sick of my company I'll invite myself in" he said softly, the liquor slurring his speech just slightly, "I'd rather not be alone right now."


	2. Chapter 2

"Yeah knowing you you'd sneak back to the bar," Sarah sighed grabbing his elbow and drawing him into her room once she'd managed the keycard. "Make yourself at home," she said with a smile and then she made her way around the room changing into boxers and a t-shirt regardless of his presence.

"I can do that too" he decided, dropping his uniform jacket and pants to the floor, leaving him in similar boxers and tee shirt as she was wearing and fell back onto one of the beds, closing his eyes momentarily as the liquor affected him. "No I don't think I'd be going back for another drink" he said, "but if I were alone I might have a bottle sent up to my room."

Sarah jumped onto him in pounce mode and stared at him fuming and being playful.

"OK Ninja Girl" Harm laughed and flipped her off him, rolling her to her back and pinning her wrists to the mattress. "I'm just realizing you could really hurt me right now" he laughed again, looking down to where her knees were between his legs. "Maybe I can discourage you from doing that like this." And with that he brought his lips down on hers, gently at first, waiting for her reaction.

Sarah gasped at first but then deepened the kiss and traced his lips with her tongue requesting entrance as her arms traced around the back of his neck.

Harm opened his mouth to her eagerly, his tongue meeting hers as she pressed her lips fully to his. He shuddered with desire as their tongues met and their bodies pressed together and he heard his breathing change to short pants of excitement. "Mac I don't know if..." and his words were cut off by another kiss.

"I do," Sarah responded. Her hands quickly removed his shirt and then her mouth was playing with his nipple as her hands roamed and explored the rest of his upper body.

"Can't argue with that logic" Harm sighed, the pleasure already coursing through his body and he easily threw off her shirt to be greeted by her lacy bra. "Sarah I want you" he finally let through a burst of honesty. "I want to make love to you."

"I'm not stopping you Harm..." Sarah gasped as her hands unfastened her bra giving him access to her breasts and her hands roamed lower squeezing his six and then wrapping around his waist to drop down and caress his desire. "Oh Harm...I want you." she moaned.

Harm ran his hands up and down her several times, caressing the smooth skin of her back and down across her rear, cupping the cheeks which pulled her to him for another kiss. What she was doing with her fingers sent chills of delight through him and he moved his lips along her neckline, kissing the hollow of sensitive skin until he found her breasts. Light kisses everywhere were followed by his lips gently tugging at the nipple as his tongue scraped across its flat.

"Oh Harm..." Sarah moaned unpredictably. After all no one in the office had any knowledge of what a sensual Sarah Mackenzie would be like. She continued her caress of him but swiftly removed his boxers while her tongue was exploring his mouth and then one hand went to stroking him while the other caressed the sensitive skin beneath.

"Sarah, oh god Sarah" was all he could manage as he savored her touch. Running his hands along her flat stomach he drifted down between her legs, tickling her inner thighs, spreading them apart the width of his hand and then pressed his palm against the outer edges of her entrance, already warm and damp.

"Oh Harm please..." Sarah begged softly increasing her ministrations to him and at the same time her mouth dropped down to work on his nipple.

"Please what" Harm teased, "OK, please do this?" And he slid his fingers barely inside her, gently feeling until he hit upon the hard nodule and pressed carefully, sending a shockwave of pleasure through her. "Must be the spot" he said just before his mouth came down on hers

Sarah moaned and shivered with delight and pleasure pressing herself even further against him. Their tongues performed their own dance and Sarah's hands continued their caressing. "I want you now Harm..." she murmured, her warm breath on his neck before she nibbled there.

"Yes now" Harm panted, his own excitement and desire feverish. He loomed over her, holding himself just above her entrance and then pushed inside, going ever so slowly until she rose up to meet him, surrounding him with tight warmth.

Sarah wrapped her legs around Harm's well-built body plunging him further inside her and then she began to meet him stroke for stroke as their mouths had a duel all their own. She was panting hard and she could feel Harm nearing the edge. What was amazing to her was that she could also feel herself nearing climax. She had never done that before.

"Hold on" Harm whispered and rolled them so that she was now uppermost, her legs still tightly around his and he took gentle hold of her breasts as she moved with him, his thumbs playing across the nipple surfaces as he let her set the finishing pace.

Sarah gave a few more meeting thrusts and then finally her climax slammed into her all-consuming and she clung to him as she shuddered. Then she felt him fill her with warmth buried deep inside her as he was. When they were both calmer she lay her head down on his chest, five years of sexual tension had just been answered.

Harm panted hard from the exertion, beads of sweat on his upper body, and he drew her tightly to him, moving only to secure the bed covers around them. "I want us to stay like this tonight" he whispered, "I need you, I need to feel myself still inside you."

Sarah leaned in and kissed him in response. Then she lay her head on his chest her inner muscles flexing one last time as she went to sleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night, the room still in darkness, Harm woke and felt a weight on his chest, and pressure on his bladder, plus the start of a hangover headache. "I need to get up" he mumbled, "let me up." When the weight didn't move, he pushed a little further. "I have to pee, move Renee."


	3. Chapter 3

"Renee?" came a sleepy question and then suddenly the weight moved quickly from him. "Renee? Is that who you thought I was?" the voice was hurt, wounded.

Harm blinked his eyes several times and shook his head, trying to bring into focus what was happening, complicated by a sharp pounding in his head, horrible bladder pressure and a sudden urge to be sick. "No Mac...I...Renee isn't...she doesn't...oh god excuse me." He ran for the bathroom, deciding to tend to the bladder urge first, which was a mistake as he began to heave, not successfully into the toilet. The room swam before him and he fell sideways, cracking the side of his head on the porcelain commode. His hand went to his head and came back bloody, and then darkness fell.

"Harm?" Mac said racing to the source of the noise. When she saw him she bit out, "stupid sailor" and quickly she rushed to apply pressure to the wound. Once she had managed to revive him somewhat she raced to get dressed and helped him do so as well and then she took him to the emergency room. She remained civil but quiet and she was determined that there would be no groveling on his part for he had made himself perfectly clear.

"Colonel you can come in now" the doctor motioned to her. "He's fine, no concussion, twelve stitches, gave him something for the headache and nausea and you can take him back to your hotel. If you're Sarah, he keeps asking for you anyway." Harm was sitting up on the exam table, holding a basin just in case. "Sarah...Mac I'm not sure what's going on here. Did I fall or what? And you were there?"

"Yes I was there Harm, fortunately for you," Sarah answered softly, "you were sick and you fell and hit your head in the bathroom." She hugged him gently then. "I'm glad you're okay."

"OK" he nodded, holding his head against the dizziness that caused. "I sort of remember that." "But why were you in my bathroom at this hour of the morning?" he frowned again.

"You were in my room Harm," Sarah said softly, "we'd been talking and you fell asleep in your mildly intoxicated state, stickboy."

"Yeah OK" Harm nodded, "I can believe that. Thank you for taking care of me. Can we get out of here now? I'll buy you some breakfast."

Sarah smiled but it didn't reach her eyes, "No, I'll get us breakfast in bed and you can rest..." she replied leading him out and signing his discharge.

"Mac I'm sorry to be so much trouble really" Harm protested as she guided him to the car, "but I am glad to be going back to rest I think. I just wish I could remember more about last night. I keep thinking I'm missing something that happened-like a chunk out of the night. I didn't do anything that I'm going to regret, or hear about from the Admiral did I?"

Sarah shrugged. "I don't know Harm...I don't know what you regret. I don't regret last night."

"I don't regret anything I can remember" Harm frowned. "Why don't you tell me what I did and then I'll tell you if I think I'm going to regret it."

"Well you kept me from drinking," Sarah began, "you walked me up to my room. I invited you in. We made a few jokes and then I pounced on you, we had a little wrestling match and then you leaned down and kissed me...we made love and then you accused me of being Renee." Sarah finished with lightening speed.

A sharp pain went through Harm's head at that news and he grabbed her arms. "We...you and I...we slept together-made love-had sex?" he gasped, trying to get a handle on what had happened. He ran a hand through his hair, "I do something I've wanted to do for the past three years and I can't remember it?" He searched her face, now a mask. "And then I accused you of being Renee? God Sarah how could I be such a jerk?"

"If I remember correctly you needed to pee and you have a hangover which means you were obviously fairly intoxicated in the first place. It's okay Harm, I don't regret making love to you one bit. Three years hmm...amazing." Sarah said calmly, "we'll just chalk it up to an experience, one that we both wanted very badly and enjoyed."

He was silent until they were about to pull into the hotel parking garage and then reached for her hand. "The night is fuzzy, but I don't think it will be once my head stops pounding. But I do know this, I don't regret it even if I can't recall it right now. I was serious about wanting you for that whole time. What I do regret is that I don't know where we should go from here. I mean I'm no more able to say what I think...what should happen." He took a deep breath and opened the car door before she had completely stopped. "I need some time alone I think to sort this all through" and he bolted away from the car before she could stop him.

"Damn you Rabb," Sarah cursed softly. He had run away again. She took the ring out of her jewelry case in her hotel room and slipped it back on. She didn't want it there but it would perhaps keep the pain at bay and resettle things between Harm and herself. Right now at this very moment he needed her to still be his support and after all he was here with Renee. Sarah sighed, she'd do what she had to, for now.

When he came back there the lobby was empty and his head was still pounding. Worse he was no clearer on what he wanted, nor had his memory yet returned. With a long sigh he opened the door to his room, finding Renee stretched out on the bed. She ran to him and he hugged her, then excused himself to get a shower. When he emerged he pleaded exhaustion to Renee and curled up in bed, wrapping his arms around an extra pillow. Just before sleep claimed him, there was a brief vision of a dark haired beautiful woman, making love to him with a passion and a sensuality he had never experienced.

That evening the big 747 returned them to D.C. As they were gathering their luggage, Harm's gaze fell to the ring on Mac's hand, still the right one he noted with relief. At the same time Mac could see Renee firmly wrap her arm around Harm's.

For a brief period in the grand scheme of things, time had stopped for Sarah Mackenzie and Harmon Rabb and all was right with the world. Time then restarted and what was normal for them restored.

However, Fate would soon intervene.

THE END


End file.
